I WRITE with reference to the proposed new extension on Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry.

I have now been following this for at least the last five to six years and have lost count of how many planning applications have been submitted by Rev Stead.

I no longer live in the parish, but was born there. I attended Quarry School, I was christened and married at Holy Trinity and unfortunately my twin boys, born prematurely in September 2005, are buried there.

The spot for their final resting place was chosen carefully by myself and my husband because you could stand at their grave, look over the perimeter wall and see Quarry School, a place that is, as well as the church, very familiar to me.

Rev Stead submitted the first set of plans years ago. Thomas and William could only have been passed for four or five years.

Myself and my husband had a meeting with Rev Stead at the vicarage to discuss his plans.

We made it clear that we were not happy with the plans, but still he ploughed ahead with them, promising us that he would ‘keep us in the loop”, with any developments.

That’s the last I’ve ever heard from him to the present day. Years have gone on since then, more plans have been submitted and refused, and here we are, he’s still insisting on the need for a kitchenette, creche and flower stall on the church site, even though a purpose-built building was erected to accommodate those needs less that 50 yards from the church.

In May I found out that more plans had been submitted.

The Oxford Mail reported that this issue has been dealt with in a sensitive manner.

Had it been dealt with in a sensitive manner wouldn’t I have been contacted or ‘kept in the loop’ as promised all those years ago? I attended the planning meeting at the Town Hall about three weeks ago where permission was granted.

I and many others were represented by the Quarry Preservation Group who spoke about reasons why the plans should not be approved – building over and disturbing graves, being one of them. Cannon Knight said a few words, choosing not to mention anything about graves that the extension will affect.

The architect told the planners that “the extension was essentially on the back of the church, no-one is going to see it once it was built”. I was deeply offended.

I see the back of the church every week when I go and tend my baby boys’ grave. Thomas and William’s grave is about two metres from where the new extension will be.

How on earth do they intend to dig foundations and erect scaffolding without disturbing my sons’ grave?

I don’t know the answer to these questions because there has been no contact from the vicar or anyone else at Holy Trinity.

I left the Town Hall that night bewildered that something like this can be approved, given its opposition.

AMANDA BLAKE

Merton Way, Yarnton